West Bank | Define West Bank at Dictionary.com West Bank noun 1. an area in the Middle East, between the W bank of the Jordan River and the E frontier of Israel: occupied in 1967 and subsequently claimed by Israel; formerly held by Jordan. Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for West Bank Expand Contemporary Examples But Serry said events had reached a critical point in the West Bank and cautioned that a collapse would leave Israel accountable. Serbia and Croatia’s Competing Genocide Claims Adam LeBor March 10, 2014 Some courses of action are clear: Israel should halt all construction in the West Bank. British Dictionary definitions for West Bank Expand noun 1. the West Bank, a semi-autonomous Palestinian region in the Middle East on the W bank of the River Jordan, comprising the hills of Judaea and Samaria and part of Jerusalem: formerly part of Palestine (the entity created by the League of Nations in 1922 and operating until 1948): became part of Jordan after the ceasefire of 1949: occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1993 a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization provided for the West Bank to become a self-governing Palestinian area; a new Palestinian National Authority assumed control of parts of the territory in 1994–95, but subsequent talks broke down and Israel reoccupied much of this in 2001–02 and continues to maintain most existing Israeli settlements. Pop: 2 676 740 (2013 est). Area: 5879 sq km (2270 sq miles) Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for West Bank Expand in reference to the former Jordanian territory west of the River Jordan, 1967.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Expand West Bank definition Land on the west bank of the Jordan River , formerly in the hands of Jordan , but captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel has agreed to hand over part of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority , but the Israeli government has been widely criticized for continuing to move civilian settlers as well as soldiers into the area. In 2001, in response to terrorist suicide bombings (see terrorism ), Israel staged heavy military strikes against Palestinian cities in the West Bank. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Jordan river west bank | Article about Jordan river west bank by The Free Dictionary Jordan river west bank | Article about Jordan river west bank by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia .

West Bank, territory, formerly part of Palestine Palestine , historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (recognized internationally by nations as independent Palestine), Jordan, and Egypt; also known as the Holy Land. ..... Click the link for more information. , after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea. Since mid-1994 limited Palestinian self-rule has existed in portions of the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. ..... Click the link for more information. (PA). Israelis who regard the area as Jewish territory often refer to it by the biblical names of Judaea Judaea or Judea [Lat. from Judah], region, Greco-Roman name for S Palestine. It varied in size in different periods.

In the time of Jesus it was both part of the province of Syria and a kingdom ruled by the Herods. ..... Click the link for more information. and Samaria Samaria , city, ancient Palestine, on a hill NW of modern-day Nablus (Shechem). The site is now occupied by a village, Sabastiyah (West Bank). Samaria (named for Shemer, who owned the land) was built by King Omri as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel in the early 9th ..... Click the link for more information. . The largest and most historically important cities are Hebron Hebron, Arab. Al-Khalil, city (2003 est. pop. 155,000), the West Bank. Hebron is situated at an altitude of 3,000 ft (910 m) in a region where grapes, cereal grains, and vegetables are grown. ..... Click the link for more information. , Nablus Nablus , Heb. Shechem, city (2003 est. pop. 127,000), the West Bank.

It is the market center for a region where wheat and olives are grown and sheep and goats are grazed. Manufactures include soap made from olive oil and colorful shepherds' coats. ..... Click the link for more information. , Bethlehem Bethlehem [Heb.,=house of bread or house of Lahm, a goddess], Arab. Bayt Lahm, town (2003 est. pop. 28,000), in the West Bank. It is traditionally considered the birthplace of Jesus and is one of the world's great shrines. ..... Click the link for more information. , and Jericho Jericho [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop. 19,000), West Bank, in the Jordan valley N of the Dead Sea; nearby is the site of the ancient city of Jericho. ..... Click the link for more information. . East Jerusalem Jerusalem , Heb. Yerushalayim, Arab. Al Quds, city (1994 pop. 578,800), capital of Israel.

It is situated on a ridge 2,500 ft (760 m) high that lies west of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. ..... Click the link for more information. is regarded as part of the West Bank by Arabs; however, Israel has incorporated it into the larger Jerusalem economy and municipality. In addition to the Palestinian population, some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem or other West Bank territories that Israel has annexed to Jersusalem. People and Economy About 75% of the population of the West Bank consists of Sunni Muslim Palestinian Arabs, many of whom live in large, impoverished refugee camps; 17% are Jewish Israelis living in government-subsidized settlements; and the rest are mainly Christian Palestinian Arabs. Arabic, Hebrew, and English are spoken. The land in the N West Bank is fertile, and olives, citrus and other fruits, vegetables, beef, and dairy products are produced. Family businesses and small-scale industries manufacture such goods as architectural limestone, textiles, and handicrafts, although investment capital is paltry. The area is also dependent on work in neighboring Israel for employment.

Real economic development has been stagnated by a lack of resources and often set back by the Arab-Israeli violence arising out of the occupation and in response to Palestinian attacks in Israel; Israeli control of roughly 50% of the region's land and over roads and other key segments of the infrastructure also has been an impediment to development of the Palestinian economy. History The West Bank was declared part of Jordanian territory after Israel and Jordan signed armistice agreements in 1949. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War Arab-Israeli Wars, conflicts in 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973–74, and 1982 between Israel and the Arab states. Tensions between Israel and the Arabs have been complicated and heightened by the political, strategic, and economic interests in the area of the great powers. ..... Click the link for more information. , the area remained under Israeli occupation.

Conflicts with Arab residents there grew in the late 1970s as Israeli Jewish settlers, encouraged by the Begin Begin, Menachem , 1913–92, Zionist leader and Israeli prime minister (1977–83), b. Russia. He became (1938) leader of a Zionist youth movement in Poland, where he also earned a law degree. ..... Click the link for more information. administration, began a series of large-scale housing developments. Although the Camp David accords Camp David accords, popular name for the peace treaty forged in 1978 between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The official agreement was signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in Washington, D.C. ..... Click the link for more information. (1978) incorporated plans for Arab self-rule in the West Bank, this goal remained elusive. Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 1982 to destroy Palestinian armed bases exacerbated rioting and political turmoil in the West Bank. Israel responded with military curfews and increased Israeli troop presence.

The development of the Intifada Intifada [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since 1967. A vehicular accident that killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Dec. ..... Click the link for more information. (Palestinian uprising), which began in the Gaza Strip Gaza Strip , (2007 pop. 1,416,543) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine, now officially administered by the Palestinian Authority. ..... Click the link for more information. in 1987, embroiled the West Bank in outbreaks of stone-throwing, protests, and violent attacks and led to Israeli reprisals, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths, property damage, high unemployment, and reduced living standards.

The 1991 Persian Gulf War Persian Gulf Wars, two conflicts involving Iraq and U.S.-led coalitions in the late 20th and early 21st cent. The First Persian Gulf War, also known as the Gulf War, Jan.–Feb. ..... Click the link for more information. created further economic hardship as Palestinian workers returned en masse from the war zone. Rioting and clashes with Israeli troops continued into the 1990s. An accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), coordinating council for Palestinian organizations, founded (1964) by Egypt and the Arab League and initially controlled by Egypt. ..... Click the link for more information. (PLO), reached in 1993 after secret negotiations, led to the establishment of the PA and limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in mid-1994. Agreements providing for a transfer of control to Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip, and then in the other West Bank cities and towns (except East Jerusalem), were finalized in 1994 and 1995 and largely implemented by early 1996.

In Mar., 1996, Israel sealed off many towns in the West Bank following a series of suicide bombings inside Israel. Most of Hebron was handed over to the Palestinians in 1997 and, in a 1998 accord, Israel agreed to withdraw from additional West Bank territory. Although progress was slow, this was accomplished by Mar., 2000. Any chance of further progress was stymied by a new cycle of violence that began in the fall after Ariel Sharon Sharon, Ariel , 1928–2014, Israeli general and politician, b. Kfar Malal as Ariel Scheinerman. As a teenager he joined the Haganah, the underground Zionist military brigade, and took his Hebrew name from the Sharon Plain, where he worked in 1947. ..... Click the link for more information. visited the Haram esh-Sherif (or Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. Israel's construction of a security barrier in the West Bank became an international issue in 2003.

It was begun in 2002 in the N West Bank, where it paralleled the border, and around Jerusalem, but its planned extension south and into the West Bank to protect Israeli settlements brought widespread condemnation because of West Bank territory it would enclosed and the many Palestinians whose lives would be disrupted. An International Court of Justice opinion (2004), requested by the UN General Assembly, termed barrier illegal, in part because it enclosed Palestinian territory. Israeli court decisions several times ordered the wall partially rerouted because of the hardship it would cause. Mahmoud Abbas Abbas, Mahmoud , 1935–, Palestinian leader, also known as Abu Mazen. He was born in Saffed, Palestine (now in Israel), but his family fled during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli conflict and lived in Syria. Educated at Damascus Univ. ..... Click the link for more information. was elected president in 2005 after Arafat's death. He and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon subsequently agreed to a truce, and in Mar., 2005, Israeli forces began handing over control of Jericho and other West Bank towns to the PA. Subsequent violence, however, halted and reversed the process.

A few Israeli settlements in the N West Bank were evacuated in 2005 in conjunction with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but the number of Israeli settlers continued to increase. By mid-2009, Israel had eased its control over a number of towns while not restoring full PA control. That same year Israel halted new settlement construction for ten months while negotiations occurred; construction subsequently resumed. Following the firebombing of a Palestinian home in July, 2015, a series of clashes and of attacks against Israelis erupted in the West Bank and Israel. West Bank the. a semi-autonomous Palestinian region in the Middle East on the W bank of the River Jordan, comprising the hills of Judaea and Samaria and part of Jerusalem: formerly part of Palestine (the entity created by the League of Nations in 1922 and operating until 1948): became part of Jordan after the ceasefire of 1949: occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1993 a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization provided for the West Bank to become a self-governing Palestinian area; a new Palestinian National Authority assumed control of parts of the territory in 1994--95, but subsequent talks broke down and Israel reoccupied much of this in 2001--02. Pop.: 2 421 491 (2004 est.). Area: 5879 sq. km (2270 sq. miles) West Bank territory, formerly part of Palestine, after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea. Since mid-1994 limited Palestinian self-rule has existed in portions of the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. Israelis who regard the area as properly Jewish territory often refer to it by the biblical names of Judaea and Samaria.

The largest and most historically important cities are Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Jericho. East Jerusalem is regarded as part of the West Bank by Arabs; however, Israel has incorporated it into the larger Jerusalem economy and municipality. People and Economy The population of the West Bank is composed primarily of Muslim Palestinian Arabs, many of whom live in large, impoverished refugee camps. In addition, about 240,000 Jewish Israelis live in government-subsidized settlements throughout the West Bank. The land in the N West Bank is fertile, and olives, fruit, and citrus products are produced. Family businesses and small-scale industries manufacture such goods as architectural limestone, cement, and textiles, although investment capital is paltry. The area is also dependent on work in Israel proper for employment. Real economic development has been stagnated by a lack of resources and often set back by the Arab-Israeli violence arising out of the occupation and in response to Palestinian attacks in Israel. History The West Bank was declared part of Jordanian territory after Israel and Jordan signed armistice agreements in 1949. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the area remained under Israeli occupation.

Conflicts with Arab residents there grew in the late 1970s as Israeli Jewish settlers, encouraged by the Begin administration, began a series of large-scale housing developments. Although the Camp David accords (1978) incorporated plans for Arab self-rule in the West Bank, this goal remained elusive. Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 1982 to destroy Palestinian armed bases exacerbated rioting and political turmoil in the West Bank. Israel responded with military curfews and increased Israeli troop presence. The development of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), which began in the Gaza Strip in 1987, embroiled the West Bank in outbreaks of stone-throwing, protests, and violent attacks and led to Israeli reprisals, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths, property damage, high unemployment, and reduced living standards. The 1991 Persian Gulf War created further economic hardship as Palestinian workers returned en masse from the war zone. Rioting and clashes with Israeli troops continued into the 1990s.

An accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), reached in 1993 after secret negotiations, led to the establishment of the Palestianian Authority and limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in mid-1994. Agreements providing for a transfer of control to Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip, and then in the other West Bank cities and towns (except East Jerusalem), were finalized in 1994 and 1995 and largely implemented by early 1996. In Mar., 1996, Israel sealed off many towns in the West Bank following a series of suicide bombings inside Israel. Most of Hebron was handed over to the Palestinians in 1997 and, in a 1998 accord, Israel agreed to withdraw from additional West Bank territory. Although progress was slow, this was accomplished by Mar., 2000. Any chance of further progress was stymied by a new cycle of violence that began in the fall after Ariel Sharon visited the Haram esh-Sherif (or Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.

Israel's construction of a security barrier in the West Bank became an international issue in 2003. It was begun in 2002 in the N West Bank, where it paralleled the border, and around Jerusalem, but its planned extension south and into the West Bank to protect Israeli settlements brought widespread condemnation because of West Bank territory it would enclosed and the many Palestinians whose lives would be disrupted. An International Court of Justice opinion (2004), requested by the UN General Assembly, termed barrier illegal, in part because it encloses Palestinian territory. An Israeli court decision separately ordered the wall partially rerouted because of the hardship it would cause. Mahmoud Abbas was elected president in 2005 after Arafat's death. He and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon subsequently agreed to a truce, and in Mar., 2005, Israeli forces began handing over control of Jericho and other West Bank towns to the Palestinian Authority. Subsequent violence, however, halted and reversed the process. A few Israeli settlements in the N West Bank were evacuated in 2005 in conjunction with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

West Bank Encyclopedia of the Middle East West Bank donations West Bank The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية�, al-diffä l-Ġarbīyä, Hebrew: ���� ��������, Hagadah Hamaaravit) is the area west of the Jordan river that was occupied by Transjordan since 1949. The name "West Bank" was devised by Transjordanian and British diplomats following World War II, when Jordan contemplated annexing a portion of the Palestinian Arab state that was to be created when the British vacated Palestine, and later envisioned by the UN when it partitioned the Palestine Mandate into Jewish and Arab states (See Partition Resolution ). Following Israeli territorial gains during the 1948 Arab-Israel war, about 2,200 square miles were left in the territory of the West Bank. Currently about 2.4 million Arab Palestinians, including a significant number of refugees of the 1948 Arab Israel War, live in the West Bank, along with about 250,000 Israeli settlers. The area is currently officially under Israeli occupation or "administration" with partially autonomous government of the Palestinian National Authority .

It incorporates part of the areas known since ancient times as Judea and Samaria . "Judea and Samaria" as a unit is the name officially given to the West Bank in Israel, but the ancient areas of Judea and Samaria in fact overlapped into current portions of Israel. The name is used by the Israeli government and military communiques, and by media outlets and politicians associated with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the mainland Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, it shares a border with Jordan. The West Bank also includes a significant coast line along the western bank of the Dead Sea and part of the Dead Sea may be included in its territory. Since 1967, the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation. Prior to the First World War, all of the area known to Europeans as Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire . In the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allies allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine.

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War saw the establishment of Israel in parts of the former Mandate, while the West Bank was captured and annexed by Jordan, which destroyed any existing Jewish villages. The 1949 Armistice Agreements defined its interim boundary. From 1948 until 1967, the area was under Jordanian rule, and Jordan did not officially relinquish its claim to the area until 1988. Jordan's claim was not recognized by most other countries. The West Bank was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War. Most of the residents are Arabs, although large numbers of Israeli settlements have been built in the region. Most of the Arab portions of the West Bank are administered by the Palestinian National Authority . The West Bank has an anomalous international status, since Jordan's occupation was never recognized as legitimate by most countries, and Jordan relinquished its territorial claims. The area is not occupied under the strict definition of international law, since it is not territory of another sovereign, but most countries consider that Israeli rule there constitutes occupation. Israeli courts apply most aspects of international law regarding occupation to cases where it is relevant.

The West Bank is legally distinct from the area of Jerusalem, which the UN declared to be an internationalized Corpus Separatum in 1947. Synonyms and alternate spellings: HUSSEIN SURRENDERS CLAIMS ON WEST BANK TO THE P.L.O. - U.S. PEACE PLAN IN JEOPARDY - Internal Tensions - NYTimes.com HUSSEIN SURRENDERS CLAIMS ON WEST BANK TO THE P.L.O. HUSSEIN SURRENDERS CLAIMS ON WEST BANK TO THE P.L.O.; U.S. PEACE PLAN IN JEOPARDY; Internal Tensions By JOHN KIFNER, Special to the New York Times Published: August 1, 1988 AMMAN, Jordan, July 31— King Hussein of Jordan tonight abandoned to the Palestine Liberation Organization any claim to the Israeli-occupied West Bank his Hashemite family ruled between 1948 and 1967. ''We respect the wish of the P.L.O., the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to secede from us in an independent Palestinian state,'' the King said in a dramatic television address after several moves to distance himself from the West Bank.

''We say this in all understanding.'' [ Excerpts from the address, page A4. ] The King's speech, reflecting the impact of the eight-month Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories, appeared to cast grave doubts on American peace efforts in the Middle East. Washington has cast Jordan as the prime negotiator for the Palestinians in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the end of the 1967 war. 'Jordan Is Not Palestine' The latest round of bloody Arab infighting in Lebanon has seen soldiers led by Yasir Arafat, the P.L.O. chairman, driven out of their bases in the rubble-strewn refugee districts on the southern edge of Beirut by Syrian-backed rivals. But in the occupied territories, the main allegiance is still to the symbolic leadership of Mr. Arafat as the embodiment of the Palestinian cause and a leader of the uprising that has taken 209 Arab lives since it began last December. ''Jordan is not Palestine,'' the King added, in a rebuff to both Israeli rightists and Jordanian radicals who might call for a Palestinian homeland on his land.

''The independent Palestinian state will be established on the occupied Palestinian land after its liberation, God willing.'' The King's unusually short speech -barely half an hour long - appeared to count Jordan out of Middle East peace talks and challenge the Americans, the Israelis and, perhaps most of all, the P.L.O., to find a solution. 'A Sacred Duty' At the same time, the King delivered a stern warning against restiveness by those in Jordan who consider themselves Palestinians, roughly two-thirds of the population. ''National unity is precious in any country, but in Jordan it is more than that,'' the King said. ''It is the basis of our stability. Safeguarding national unity is a sacred duty that will not be compromised.'' King Hussein's speech reflected the political distance traveled since an Arab summit meeting here last November. The Palestinian uprising that followed has produced speculation that the issue of the occupied territories' future had been abandoned by Jordan to a second, emergency summit meeting in Algiers in June, which bypassed Jordan in favor of the P.L.O.

''Since there is a general conviction that the struggle to liberate the occupied Palestinian land could be en-hanced by dismantling the legal and administrative links between the two banks, we have to fulfill our duty and do what is required of us,'' the King said in a clear reference to the Algiers summit meeting. ''These steps were taken only in response to the wish of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the prevailing Arab conviction that such measures will contribute to the struggle of the Palestinian people and their glorious uprising,'' he added. Jordanian currency, and, to an extent, law, still hold in the West Bank, where many families cherish relatives across the river. King Hussein had tried to keep up his influence by paying the salaries of teachers, municipal employees and Moslem clergymen and encouraging a network of establishment leaders from major families who were referred to as ''the King's men.'' Thus, the announcement in the King's speech tonight that ''since there is a general conviction that the struggle to liberate the occupied Palestinian land could be enhanced by dismantling the legal and administrative links between the two banks, we have to fulfill our duty and do what is required of us'' is significant.

The banner headline in the Government-approved newspaper Al-Rai for Monday is to say ''Jordan disengages itself legally and administratively from the West Bank.'' The King was at pains at several points during his speech to cite Arab and Palestinian feelings that ''maintaining the legal and administrative links with the West Bank'' was seen to ''hamper the Palestinian struggle.'' But in an atmosphere of growing tension between traditional residents -referred to as ''East Bankers''- and Palestinians, who here usually hold Jordanian citizenship, the King made a point of saying he requires loyalty of all citizens. Emphasis on Discipline ''At the same time, it has to be understood in all clarity, and without any ambiguity or equivocation, that our measures regarding the West Bank concern only the occupied Palestinian land and its people,'' the King said. ''They naturally do not relate in any way to the Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. ''It is most important to remember, as we emphasize the importance of safeguarding national unity, that stable and productive societies are those where orderliness and discipline prevail,'' he added.

''Discipline is the solid fabric that binds all members of a community in a solid, harmonious structure, blocking all avenues before the enemies and opening new horizons of hope for future generations.'' Over the past few days, King Hussein has announced the abandonment of a two-year-old United States-backed aid program to the West Bank widely viewed as an arrangement with Israel to build a conservative alternative to the P.L.O. institutions and leadership there, and has dissolved the lower house of the Jordanian Parliament, half of whose 60 members represent West Bank districts. These moves, along with tonight's speech, reflect the King's complicated, and often difficult relations with the Palestinians. Palestinians as a Threat In the West the King is viewed as an advocate of the Arab cause and a representative of the Palestinians, a view that is shared by Israeli leaders like Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. But for King Hussein, heir to a dynasty that stretches back only as far as his grandfather, in a land mapped out by Britain in gratitude for support against the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the reality is more complex. Indeed, the Palestinians have often been the most immediate threat to the throne.

As a youth, he saw his grandfather, King Abdullah, assassinated on the steps of a mosque in Jerusalem by Palestinian opponents. While a good deal of Jordan's relative economic well-being derives from the industry of well-to-do urban Palestinians forced to move to Jordan in 1948, radical Palestinian factions tried to topple the King in 1970 during the bitter ''Black September'' civil war. map of the West Bank (pg. A1); photo of King Hussein of Jordan (AP) (pg. A4) In Focus: The West Bank @ NationalGeographic.com Occupied since 1967, the heartland of a future Palestinian state is a breeding ground for despair. Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt. Despite their hold on the world’s attention, the Gaza Strip and West Bank territories, occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in June 1967, cover relatively tiny areas. Gaza, home to 1.1 million Palestinians and 7,000 Israeli settlers (who occupy 25 percent of the land), is only 26 miles (41 kilometers)long.

A north-south drive through the center of the West Bank on Road 60, which connects the historic cities of Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Hebron, takes four hours. Traversing one of the modern east-west highways that cross between the Jordan River and the so-called Green Line, which marks the West Bank’s border with Israel, should take 30 minutes. But for most of the people who live here, time and distance are measured differently. The 2.2 million Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are effectively barred from most of Road 60 along with many other roads carefully engineered for the use of the 376,000 Israelis who have settled here over the past 35 years. Palestinians contemplating the 25-mile (40-kilometer) journey from Ramallah to Jericho, for example, must be prepared to spend an entire day, sometimes days, negotiating the various Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints along the way. The many peoples who have lived on this land in past ages have not always been so much at odds.

A cache of letters uncovered in a cave in the Judaean desert on the southern fringe of the West Bank 40 years ago chronicles the daily life of Babatha, a second-century Jewish woman. Babatha describes Jews and Arabs coexisting without friction. Just a hundred years ago Jews, Christians, and Muslims living in Jerusalem routinely attended each other’s religious festivities. That kind of harmony eroded and disappeared in the 20th century with the rise of nationalism—Jewish and Arab—in the region. Get the whole story in the pages of National Geographic magazine . Follow developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Andrew Cockburn’s update. While their leaders fail to broker peace in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel, innocent Arabs and Jews continue to die. What should be done to put an end to the violence? How should such moves be implemented? Join the discussion. In More to Explore the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information. Special thanks to the Research Division. Service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is compulsory for most Israelis. All Jews are expected to serve from the age of 18—men for three years and single women for two.

That obligation is followed by service in the reserves, for men up to age 51 and single women up to age 24. Married and Orthodox women are exempt, and Orthodox men are granted deferments while pursuing Torah studies. Druze males are also obligated to serve. Although Druze are ethnically Arab, differing from Muslim and Christian Arabs only in their religion, which is an offshoot of Islam, they requested that they be included in the draft and have been since the early 1950s. Muslim Bedouin also serve. The Bedouin, who in the past lived in nomadic desert tribes, have proved to be excellent at tracking, a service invaluable to border-patrol missions. Israeli law does not explicitly exclude Arab youths from military service, but their exclusion has become accepted by both sides. Most Israeli Arabs don’t want to take up arms against their Arab brothers, and the IDF doesn’t want to risk conflict in the ranks. However, the IDF has allowed Muslim and Christian Arabs to enlist on a volunteer basis. Although these volunteers are often considered outsiders by their own community, the Israeli establishment sees them as examples of the potential integration of Arab citizens in Israeli society.

— Marisa Larson This news site gives a thorough background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describes key events of recent years, and offers personal accounts of Israelis and Palestinians living in the heart of the tension. B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories B’Tselem acts primarily to “to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that Israeli government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law.” This site contains various reports and statistics that illustrate what life is like in the territories. Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) West Bank | history - geography - region, Palestine | Britannica.com West Bank Alternative Titles: Al-Ḍaffah al-Gharbīyah, ha-Gadah ha-Maʾaravit, Judaea and Samaria West Bank West Bank; Al-Ḍaffah al-Gharbīyah (Arabic); Ha-gadah Ha-maʾaravit (Hebrew) Population 5,655 1Includes 305,000 Israeli Jews in the West Bank.

West Bank, Arabic Al-Ḍaffah al-Gharbīyah, Hebrew Ha-Gadah Ha-Maʿaravit, area of the former British-mandated (1920–47) territory of Palestine west of the Jordan River , claimed from 1949 to 1988 as part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan but occupied from 1967 by Israel . The territory, excluding East Jerusalem, is also known within Israel by its biblical names, Judaea and Samaria . Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The approximately 2,180-square-mile (5,650-square-km) area is the centre of contending Arab and Israeli aspirations in Palestine . Within its present boundaries, it represents the portion of the former mandate retained in 1948 by the Arab forces that entered Palestine after the departure of the British. The borders and status of the area were established by the Jordanian-Israeli armistice of April 3, 1949. Pop. (2006 est.) 2,697,000.

Geography Geographically, the West Bank is mostly composed of north-south–oriented limestone hills (conventionally called the Samarian Hills north of Jerusalem and the Judaean Hills south of Jerusalem) having an average height of 2,300 to 3,000 feet (700 to 900 metres). The hills descend eastwardly to the low-lying Great Rift Valley of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea . The West Bank does not lie entirely within the drainage system of the Jordan River, as elevated areas in the west give rise to the headwaters of streams flowing westward to the Mediterranean Sea . Annual rainfall of more than 27 inches (685 mm) occurs in the most highly elevated areas in the northwest and declines in the southwest and southeast, along the Dead Sea, to less than 4 inches (100 mm). Widely variable land-use patterns are dictated by the availability of water. Relatively well-watered nonirrigated terrain in the hills (especially those of Samaria) is used for the grazing of sheep and the cultivation of cereals, olives, and fruits such as melons.

Irrigated land in the hills and the Jordan River valley is intensively cultivated for assorted fruits and vegetables. The industrial development of the West Bank was never strong during the Jordanian period, and by the mid-1960s there were less than a dozen industrial establishments with more than 30 employees in the area. Israeli occupation resulted in constraints on West Bank industrial development; investment capital remained scarce both in the West Bank and Gaza, and only the transportation infrastructure saw much improvement after 1967. This improvement occurred mostly for military reasons, although it also benefited agriculture by facilitating the supply and servicing of markets. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The principal Palestinian municipalities of the West Bank are Janīn , Nāblus , and Ramallah north of Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Bayt Laḥm) and Hebron (Al-Khalīl) south of Jerusalem. Jericho (Arīḥā) is the chief municipality of the Jordan River valley. Several small universities on the West Bank (founded or attaining university status in the 1970s) enroll mostly Palestinian students. Many Palestinians were displaced after the 1948 and 1967 wars.

About 300,000 Palestinians (most of whom were originally from territory captured by Israel in 1948) left the impoverished West Bank for Transjordan (later Jordan) during the year after the 1948 war; and about 380,000 Palestinians fled the West Bank after it was captured by the Israelis in 1967. Between 1967 and 1977 an estimated 6,300 Palestinians were evicted from East Jerusalem and replaced by Jewish immigrants, and many others lost their residency rights under the 1992–96 government of Benjamin Netanyahu . History Upon the departure of the British occupying forces in May 1948 and the proclamation of the State of Israel, the armies of five Arab countries entered Palestine. In the ensuing conflict—the first of the Arab-Israeli wars —Israel expanded beyond the territory contemplated by the partition plan. The West Bank, as demarcated by the Jordanian-Israeli armistice of 1949, was broadly similar to (but smaller than) one of the zones designated as an Arab state by the United Nations (UN) partition plan for Palestine in 1947.

According to that plan, Jerusalem was to have been an international zone. However, the city was instead divided into Israeli (west) and Jordanian (east) sectors. The Arab state whose creation was envisioned by the 1947 UN partition plan never came into being, and the West Bank was formally annexed by Jordan on April 24, 1950, although this annexation was recognized only by Great Britain and Pakistan. All About Asia From 1950 until it was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, the West Bank was governed as part of Jordan, though it was divided from the Jordanian population of the East Bank by the Jordan River. The relationship between the East and West banks was uneasy, both because of Palestinian suspicions of the Hashemite dynasty and because of the aspirations of Palestinians in the West Bank for a separate state. The web of relationships connecting the two halves of Jordan grew during this period, however, and by 1967 the West Bank represented about 47 percent of Jordan’s population and about 30 percent of its gross domestic product.

Related Topics West Bank - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) Situated between Israel and Jordan, the West Bank is a disputed territory that covers an area of approximately 2,270 square miles (5,900 square kilometers) west of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Most of the people who live in the territory are Palestinian Arabs, many of whom were displaced when the state of Israel was established in 1948. Formally annexed by Jordan in 1950, the West Bank was captured by Israeli forces in 1967. A peace agreement signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993 provided for a phased transfer of control of the territory to Palestinian authority, but this process has been jeopardized by continuing violence in the region. Article History West Bank | Article about West Bank by The Free Dictionary West Bank | Article about West Bank by The Free Dictionary West Bank, territory, formerly part of Palestine Palestine , historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (recognized internationally by nations as independent Palestine), Jordan, and Egypt; also known as the Holy Land. .....

Click the link for more information. , after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea. Since mid-1994 limited Palestinian self-rule has existed in portions of the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. ..... Click the link for more information. (PA). Israelis who regard the area as Jewish territory often refer to it by the biblical names of Judaea Judaea or Judea [Lat. from Judah], region, Greco-Roman name for S Palestine. It varied in size in different periods. In the time of Jesus it was both part of the province of Syria and a kingdom ruled by the Herods. ..... Click the link for more information. and Samaria Samaria , city, ancient Palestine, on a hill NW of modern-day Nablus (Shechem).

The site is now occupied by a village, Sabastiyah (West Bank). Samaria (named for Shemer, who owned the land) was built by King Omri as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel in the early 9th ..... Click the link for more information. . The largest and most historically important cities are Hebron Hebron, Arab. Al-Khalil, city (2003 est. pop. 155,000), the West Bank. Hebron is situated at an altitude of 3,000 ft (910 m) in a region where grapes, cereal grains, and vegetables are grown. ..... Click the link for more information. , Nablus Nablus , Heb. Shechem, city (2003 est. pop. 127,000), the West Bank. It is the market center for a region where wheat and olives are grown and sheep and goats are grazed. Manufactures include soap made from olive oil and colorful shepherds' coats. ..... Click the link for more information. , Bethlehem Bethlehem [Heb.,=house of bread or house of Lahm, a goddess], Arab.

Bayt Lahm, town (2003 est. pop. 28,000), in the West Bank. It is traditionally considered the birthplace of Jesus and is one of the world's great shrines. ..... Click the link for more information. , and Jericho Jericho [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop. 19,000), West Bank, in the Jordan valley N of the Dead Sea; nearby is the site of the ancient city of Jericho. ..... Click the link for more information. . East Jerusalem Jerusalem , Heb. Yerushalayim, Arab. Al Quds, city (1994 pop. 578,800), capital of Israel. It is situated on a ridge 2,500 ft (760 m) high that lies west of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. ..... Click the link for more information. is regarded as part of the West Bank by Arabs; however, Israel has incorporated it into the larger Jerusalem economy and municipality.

In addition to the Palestinian population, some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem or other West Bank territories that Israel has annexed to Jersusalem. People and Economy About 75% of the population of the West Bank consists of Sunni Muslim Palestinian Arabs, many of whom live in large, impoverished refugee camps; 17% are Jewish Israelis living in government-subsidized settlements; and the rest are mainly Christian Palestinian Arabs. Arabic, Hebrew, and English are spoken. The land in the N West Bank is fertile, and olives, citrus and other fruits, vegetables, beef, and dairy products are produced. Family businesses and small-scale industries manufacture such goods as architectural limestone, textiles, and handicrafts, although investment capital is paltry. The area is also dependent on work in neighboring Israel for employment. Real economic development has been stagnated by a lack of resources and often set back by the Arab-Israeli violence arising out of the occupation and in response to Palestinian attacks in Israel; Israeli control of roughly 50% of the region's land and over roads and other key segments of the infrastructure also has been an impediment to development of the Palestinian economy.

History The West Bank was declared part of Jordanian territory after Israel and Jordan signed armistice agreements in 1949. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War Arab-Israeli Wars, conflicts in 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973–74, and 1982 between Israel and the Arab states. Tensions between Israel and the Arabs have been complicated and heightened by the political, strategic, and economic interests in the area of the great powers. ..... Click the link for more information. , the area remained under Israeli occupation. Conflicts with Arab residents there grew in the late 1970s as Israeli Jewish settlers, encouraged by the Begin Begin, Menachem , 1913–92, Zionist leader and Israeli prime minister (1977–83), b. Russia. He became (1938) leader of a Zionist youth movement in Poland, where he also earned a law degree. ..... Click the link for more information. administration, began a series of large-scale housing developments.

Although the Camp David accords Camp David accords, popular name for the peace treaty forged in 1978 between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The official agreement was signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in Washington, D.C. ..... Click the link for more information. (1978) incorporated plans for Arab self-rule in the West Bank, this goal remained elusive. Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 1982 to destroy Palestinian armed bases exacerbated rioting and political turmoil in the West Bank. Israel responded with military curfews and increased Israeli troop presence. The development of the Intifada Intifada [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since 1967. A vehicular accident that killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Dec. ..... Click the link for more information. (Palestinian uprising), which began in the Gaza Strip Gaza Strip , (2007 pop.

1,416,543) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine, now officially administered by the Palestinian Authority. ..... Click the link for more information. in 1987, embroiled the West Bank in outbreaks of stone-throwing, protests, and violent attacks and led to Israeli reprisals, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths, property damage, high unemployment, and reduced living standards. The 1991 Persian Gulf War Persian Gulf Wars, two conflicts involving Iraq and U.S.-led coalitions in the late 20th and early 21st cent. The First Persian Gulf War, also known as the Gulf War, Jan.–Feb. ..... Click the link for more information. created further economic hardship as Palestinian workers returned en masse from the war zone. Rioting and clashes with Israeli troops continued into the 1990s. An accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), coordinating council for Palestinian organizations, founded (1964) by Egypt and the Arab League and initially controlled by Egypt. .....

Click the link for more information. (PLO), reached in 1993 after secret negotiations, led to the establishment of the PA and limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in mid-1994. Agreements providing for a transfer of control to Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip, and then in the other West Bank cities and towns (except East Jerusalem), were finalized in 1994 and 1995 and largely implemented by early 1996. In Mar., 1996, Israel sealed off many towns in the West Bank following a series of suicide bombings inside Israel. Most of Hebron was handed over to the Palestinians in 1997 and, in a 1998 accord, Israel agreed to withdraw from additional West Bank territory. Although progress was slow, this was accomplished by Mar., 2000. Any chance of further progress was stymied by a new cycle of violence that began in the fall after Ariel Sharon Sharon, Ariel , 1928–2014, Israeli general and politician, b. Kfar Malal as Ariel Scheinerman.

As a teenager he joined the Haganah, the underground Zionist military brigade, and took his Hebrew name from the Sharon Plain, where he worked in 1947. ..... Click the link for more information. visited the Haram esh-Sherif (or Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. Israel's construction of a security barrier in the West Bank became an international issue in 2003. It was begun in 2002 in the N West Bank, where it paralleled the border, and around Jerusalem, but its planned extension south and into the West Bank to protect Israeli settlements brought widespread condemnation because of West Bank territory it would enclosed and the many Palestinians whose lives would be disrupted. An International Court of Justice opinion (2004), requested by the UN General Assembly, termed barrier illegal, in part because it enclosed Palestinian territory. Israeli court decisions several times ordered the wall partially rerouted because of the hardship it would cause. Mahmoud Abbas Abbas, Mahmoud , 1935–, Palestinian leader, also known as Abu Mazen. He was born in Saffed, Palestine (now in Israel), but his family fled during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli conflict and lived in Syria.

Educated at Damascus Univ. ..... Click the link for more information. was elected president in 2005 after Arafat's death. He and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon subsequently agreed to a truce, and in Mar., 2005, Israeli forces began handing over control of Jericho and other West Bank towns to the PA. Subsequent violence, however, halted and reversed the process. A few Israeli settlements in the N West Bank were evacuated in 2005 in conjunction with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but the number of Israeli settlers continued to increase. By mid-2009, Israel had eased its control over a number of towns while not restoring full PA control. That same year Israel halted new settlement construction for ten months while negotiations occurred; construction subsequently resumed. Following the firebombing of a Palestinian home in July, 2015, a series of clashes and of attacks against Israelis erupted in the West Bank and Israel. West Bank the.

a semi-autonomous Palestinian region in the Middle East on the W bank of the River Jordan, comprising the hills of Judaea and Samaria and part of Jerusalem: formerly part of Palestine (the entity created by the League of Nations in 1922 and operating until 1948): became part of Jordan after the ceasefire of 1949: occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In 1993 a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization provided for the West Bank to become a self-governing Palestinian area; a new Palestinian National Authority assumed control of parts of the territory in 1994--95, but subsequent talks broke down and Israel reoccupied much of this in 2001--02. Pop.: 2 421 491 (2004 est.). Area: 5879 sq. km (2270 sq. miles) National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com Lines in the Sand: Deadly Times in the West Bank and Gaza By Andrew Cockburn Photographs by Richard T.

Nowitz Revered by three faiths, the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron functions as both synagogue and mosque, sometimes in the course of a single day. In times of intense Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, authorities close off this West Bank shrine, believed to hold the remains of three pairs of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah. Despite their hold on the world's attention, the Gaza Strip and West Bank territories, occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in June 1967, cover relatively tiny areas. Gaza, home to 1.1 million Palestinians and 7,000 Israeli settlers (who occupy 25 percent of the land), is only 26 miles (42 kilometers) long. A north-south drive through the center of the West Bank on Road 60, which connects the historic cities of Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Hebron, takes four hours. Traversing one of the modern east-west highways that cross between the Jordan River and the so-called Green Line, which marks the West Bank's border with Israel, should take 30 minutes.

But for most of the people who live here, time and distance are measured differently. The 2.2 million Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are effectively barred from most of Road 60 along with many other roads carefully engineered for the use of the 376,000 Israelis who have settled here over the past 35 years. Palestinians contemplating the 25-mile (40-kilometer) journey from Ramallah to Jericho, for example, must be prepared to spend an entire day, sometimes days, negotiating the various Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints along the way. The many peoples who have lived on this land in past ages have not always been so much at odds. A cache of letters uncovered in a cave in the Judaean desert on the southern fringe of the West Bank 40 years ago chronicles the daily life of Babatha, a second-century Jewish woman. Babatha describes Jews and Arabs coexisting without friction. Just a hundred years ago Jews, Christians, and Muslims living in Jerusalem routinely attended each other's religious festivities. That kind of harmony eroded and disappeared in the 20th century with the rise of nationalism—Jewish and Arab—in the region.

Escalating hostilities led to intervention by the United Nations, which, in 1947, produced a plan for the partition of the area, named Palestine, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The plan awarded slightly more than half the land to a Jewish state with the remainder allotted to the Palestinians. Although the Jews accepted the plan, Palestinians and the Arab states rejected it. The following year, on May 14, Israel declared independence, offering itself as a haven from anti-Semitism for the world's Jews. An ongoing war between Jews and Palestinians was thereupon joined by neighboring Arab states. When the war ended in January 1949, Israel controlled 78 percent of Palestine, and 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. The territory known as the West Bank—the hill country to the west of the Jordan River—had been designated under the stillborn UN scheme as the heart of the Palestinian state. During the war Jordan occupied this area while Israel focused on protecting early settlements and capturing Jerusalem. When the war was over, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were in the hands of the Jordanian forces; Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip; Israel controlled West Jerusalem.

Nineteen years later, in the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli forces speedily overran Gaza and swept across the West Bank, establishing a new frontier for Israel on the Jordan River. While the Israelis annexed East Jerusalem, they were less certain about what to do with the rest of the newly occupied West Bank and its million or so inhabitants. Although some Israeli leaders favored granting limited self-government to the more densely populated Palestinian areas, others were determined to settle Israelis amongst the Palestinians. Their aim was to make it impossible for any future Israeli government to pull out from what they proclaimed to be Israel's land by divine right. Initially such Israeli settlements—then as now illegal under international law—were few and sparsely populated. By 1977 there were only 4,500 Israeli settlers in the West Bank (with another 50,000 in East Jerusalem). But following election of the conservative Likud Party government that year, the settlement drive went into high gear. Among other initiatives to clear land for this purpose, the new Israeli government declared that established landowners unable to produce legal title (which most Palestinians in the West Bank did not possess) could have their holdings seized as state land.

To encourage settlers to move from Israel or abroad to the settlements, successive Israeli governments offered generous subsidies, such as tax breaks and cut-rate mortgages. Even for those not drawn by visions of occupying the biblical land of Israel, these were attractive inducements. Living in cheap and commodious housing, inhabitants of the larger settlement blocs close to the Green Line could enjoy a comfortable suburban lifestyle within an easy commute to jobs inside Israel itself. According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, 42 percent of the land in the West Bank is now controlled by the settlements. By 1993 more than 115,000 Palestinians were commuting to jobs in Israel and earning higher wages than they would have in their traditional occupations as farmers, traders, or artisans. However, around the same time, the Israeli government, responding to Palestinian attacks on Israelis, began placing severe restrictions on these workers' mobility, to the detriment of the Palestinian economy. West Bank - definition of West Bank by The Free Dictionary West Bank - definition of West Bank by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Acronyms , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia .

West Bank A disputed territory in historic Palestine west of the Jordan River, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. A 1994 accord gave the Palestinians limited self-rule and required measured withdrawal of Israeli troops, but implementation of the accord was hampered by continuing violence and the presence of Israeli settlements. West Bank n (Placename) the West Bank a semi-autonomous Palestinian region in the Middle East on the W bank of the River Jordan, comprising the hills of Judaea and Samaria and part of Jerusalem: formerly part of Palestine (the entity created by the League of Nations in 1922 and operating until 1948): became part of Jordan after the ceasefire of 1949: occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In 1993 a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization provided for the West Bank to become a self-governing Palestinian area; a new Palestinian National Authority assumed control of parts of the territory in 1994–95, but subsequent talks broke down and Israel reoccupied much of this in 2001–02 and continues to maintain most existing Israeli settlements.

Pop: 2 676 740 (2013 est). Area: 5879 sq km (2270 sq miles) West′ Bank′ n. a region in the Middle East, between the W bank of the Jordan River and the E (1949) armistice line of Israel: formerly held by Jordan; occupied in 1967 by Israel; now under partial Palestinian self-rule. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Question: The West Bank of which river has been occupied by Israel since 1967?
Answer: Jordan